The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
