The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
