The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like 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, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse 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, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
