The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
