The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated 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 participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head 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 regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing 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: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
