The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions 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 retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
