The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
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 individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating 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 sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
