The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
