Ex- Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Government Service
The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering 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 non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
