The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction 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, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
