Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Powerful Government Service
The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But 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 not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty