The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
