The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals 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 took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
