The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
