Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Time in Office
The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in American history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend 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 earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
