The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
