The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend 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."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
