The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement 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 scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, 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 emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. 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 largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
