The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary 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 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to 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 requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
