The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, 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 memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 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 credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
