The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that position in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
