One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Impactful Political Career
The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty