One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Powerful Political Career
The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared 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 notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty