The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired 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 declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps 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 is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
