The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
