The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
