The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of that office in US history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
