The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
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 invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
