The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
