The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that position in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing 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: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
