The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
