The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
