The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired 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 plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
