Former VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Government Service
The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including 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 playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, 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 diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
