The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background 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 companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
