Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Political Career
The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty