Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Time in Office
The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that position in American history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
