The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While 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 most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
