The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in US history. While countless VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author'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 sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
