The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided 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 initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
