The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly 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 addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted 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 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
