The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
