The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
