Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Powerful Time in Office
The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution 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 observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
