The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head 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 reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
