The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty