The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted 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 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House'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 "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed 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 the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
