Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Impactful Government Service
The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction 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 answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
