The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While many VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
