Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Impactful Time in Office
The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless VPs were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist'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 background that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
