The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
