The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion 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 participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
