The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that position in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow 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 declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
