The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 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 praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing 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 malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
