The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 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."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
