The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 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."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
