The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
