The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of that position in American history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend 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 merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
