The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed 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 regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 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."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
