The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that position in American history. Although countless VPs were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command 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 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author'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 shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
