The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Although numerous VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
