The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
