The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
