The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
