The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book 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 background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
