The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion 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 taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor 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.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
