The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
