The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
