The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
