The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused 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 plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
