The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
But even then, 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 not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief 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 engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though 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 energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
