The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
