The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
