The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty