The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired 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 announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
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 directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, 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 nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
