The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that position in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
