The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although countless VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
