The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that office in American history. While many VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary 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 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
