The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However 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 representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture 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 deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
