The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
