The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
