The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. While many VPs were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. 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 military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
