The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined 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 opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
