The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing 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: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
