The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
