The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response 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 educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
