The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
