The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks 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 September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, 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 not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
