The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
