The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume 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 come out of his domain? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
