The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks 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 September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, 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? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
