The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
