The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
