The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed 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 armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author'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 evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
