Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Government Service
The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure 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 shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
