The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
