The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
