The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that office in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
