The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention 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 participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 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 predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
