The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
