The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
