The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
