The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
