The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
