Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Government Service
The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Although many VPs were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the individuals who killed 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 praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
