The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration'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: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired 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 stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
