The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to 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 earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book 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 leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections 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 chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
