The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
