The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite 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 Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
