The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering 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 defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
