The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that office in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head 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 attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
