The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that office in American history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided 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 first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While 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 chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
