The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty