The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
