The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
