The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief 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 participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
