The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
