The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. While countless VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command 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 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
