The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes 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. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
