One-time Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Political Career
The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that position in US history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication 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 leave his lair? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
