The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
