The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together 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 pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too 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 fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise 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 energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
