The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book 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 shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
