Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Powerful Government Service
The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
