The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response 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 elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
