The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
