The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
