The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
