Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Influential Government Service
The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, 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 quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
