The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion 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 participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
