The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated 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 participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
