The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While many VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
