The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force 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: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
