The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that office in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 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 credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
