The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
