The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary 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 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time 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 administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
