The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
