The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that position in American history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
