The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention 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 session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
