The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of that office in US history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
