The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design 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 vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
