The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
