The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
