The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives 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 meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried 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 objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors 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 duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
