The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea 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 reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
