The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that office in US history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
