The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
