Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Time in Office
The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked 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 stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
