The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given 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 pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
