The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea 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 reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
