The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that office in American history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing situations 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 postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
