The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
