The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
