There were few personalities like him in the modern world. That's why at his funeral, two former heads of state from his country, along with politicians, both young and old, were effusively praising him. An elected representative since the seventies, he rapidly climbed the ladder of power to become the country's Vice-President twice.
Generally, Vice-Presidents don't wield much power. However, he was perhaps the most powerful Vice-President in that country's 250-year history, whose influence was no less than the President's. It could be said that he almost ran a parallel administration.
In the end, this power was no more. When he left office in 2009, only 13% of the countrymen were satisfied with his work. The impact of this fell on the government as well.
This needs to be explained in detail. He had joined President Gerald Ford's White House secretariat in 1974. Just before this, Richard Nixon had been ousted from office after getting embroiled in the Watergate scandal. And right after that came the defeat of American forces in Vietnam. Though he himself was supposed to go to war, he had avoided it five times saying, "I can't, I have other work." But from that time, his firm belief was born - none of this would have happened if the elected legislature hadn't interfered with the President's power multiple times. Therefore, it was necessary to give the President almost emperor-like absolute power. Only then would the country be secure and prosperous. And accompanying this belief was another ideology - that the President's team should always have dominance over the country's military and civilian intelligence agencies.
He began this work during President Ronald Reagan's time. He was ideal in such work, providing unquestionable leadership in keeping a close eye on details in the "shadowy world" behind the scenes. Then came the position of Defence Secretary in George Bush Sr's cabinet. He began all efforts to increase the power of intelligence agencies, joining hands with friend Donald Rumsfeld. While doing all this, came the 1989 Panama invasion. Emboldened by the Panama experience, two years later came the first Gulf War. Former friend Saddam Hussein had by then turned into an enemy. Again that excellent military planning, incredible use of cutting-edge technology.
During Clinton's time, he left politics for a few years and became a corporate boss. He became the head of the famous oil company Halliburton. What he had earned through government service all these years (which in his own words was "beggar's salary"), he earned many times over. However, the company didn't benefit much directly from making him captain. Rather, compensation had to be paid in several environment-related cases due to his wrong decisions. Perhaps for these reasons, he despised talks of environmental pollution.
Today, many state leaders including Donald Trump are not paying any attention to environmental pollution - he was one of their main "pathfinders."
Vice-Presidents don't have much to do, at least they didn't. But when he responded to George Bush Jr's call, an "understanding" developed between the two that his voice would carry weight in military affairs, foreign policy, and oil. The restructuring of the intelligence system began again. Then came September 11, 2001!
The failure to prevent 9/11 gave even more validity to his claim - the intelligence system must be made stronger, in America's interest. The attackers must be severely punished. Even attacking Afghanistan in response didn't seem to "satisfy the mind."
Something big had to be done here, which was also the public's demand. An entire country was a much better target than a shadowy group like Al-Qaeda. Sitting with a list of countries, after deliberation, one name emerged - Iraq.
But there needed to be a connection between Iraq and 9/11. Here came the Vice-President's amazing ability to create stories. Taking some very weak "sources," the mystery and thriller of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" was created and the drums of war were beaten. The chief priest of war, the Vice-President, was certain that easy victory would come in just a few weeks.
Unfortunately, five years later, when nearly seven lakh Iraqis had lost their lives alongside nearly five thousand American soldiers, many thousands more had been maimed, the environment had been destroyed by uranium-filled shells, and various new extremist gangs were destabilising Iraq's "friendly" government with attacks, even the biggest supporters couldn't call it a success. By then, the American public was also annoyed. Stories of terrible torture in multiple "illegal prisons", including Guantanamo Bay were then spreading worldwide.
Without solid evidence, could anyone be killed indiscriminately, brought and subjected to electric shock by drowning in water? But "not even a mark fell on the clerk's impassive mind." Let there be democracy. What does it matter what people say? Besides, his former company had made big profits selling Iraqi oil after the war. Therefore, he was enthusiastic about attacking Syria and Iran, because that would supposedly establish American dominance. But those "good days" were no more. Such proposals were no longer passed.
His biggest blow to personal popularity came from his "obsession" with the intelligence system. So he began pressuring telecom companies - all conversations, chats, emails, everything would be scanned by supercomputers. All this had happened to some extent always, but conducting round-the-clock surveillance of American citizens by American government spies within America itself - this was his gift. What began then hasn't ended even today. Rather, it's well known that he inspired many governments at home and abroad.
Was everything a fault? Are there no virtues at all? Not so. Completely a family man. Devoted to wife and daughter. You won't find any "faults" in his character arising from the six vices. His only "addiction" was fishing with a rod. Here too, there's an amazing similarity between career and hobby.
The gentleman's name? Richard Bruce Cheney. World-(in)famous as Dick Cheney. Born in Nebraska in 1941. He passed away last month. That's when everyone started singing his praises...
{The author is a teacher and essayist}
