The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that position in US history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, 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 surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
