The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
