The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
