The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, 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 military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
