The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of that position in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
