The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that office in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
