The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
