The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated 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 little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
