The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that office in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
