The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction 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 school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
