The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
