The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution 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 observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
