The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous VPs were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
