The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations 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 trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
