One-time VP Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Impactful Political Career
The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many VPs were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty