The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 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 Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
