The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume 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 background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
