The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend 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 earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
