The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
