The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience 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 energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
