The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
