The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
