The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
