The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
