The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of that office in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention 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 taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
