The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
