The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that office in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense 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 gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed 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 involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept 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 quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
