The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that position in US history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
