The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor 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 revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
