The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
