The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist'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 malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
