The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
