The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many VPs were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
