The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in American history. While numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
