The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
