The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing 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 behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
