The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist'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 malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
