The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture 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 voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty