Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Government Service
The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous VPs were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, 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 remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
