The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that office in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, 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 lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating 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 shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty