The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed 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 mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
