The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
