The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, 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 cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
