One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Powerful Government Service
The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response 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 headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
