The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management 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, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
