The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove 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 announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
