The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication 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 corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
