One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Powerful Political Career
The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion 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 attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty