The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
