The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
