The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
