The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of that office in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor 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.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level 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 role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
