The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
