The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices 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 not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
