The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices 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 not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
