The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that office in US history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
