The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices 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 retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, 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 background that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
