Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Powerful Political Career
The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 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 predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
