The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary 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. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
