The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed 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 military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
