The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion 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 taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the bastards 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 praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker'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 evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
