The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
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 area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
