The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased 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
