The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of 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 running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
