The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied 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 little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
