The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence 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 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
