The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
