The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 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 praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
