The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
