The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including 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, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier 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 a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
