The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, 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 shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
