The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention 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 attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 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 recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, particularly 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 election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
