The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
