The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power 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: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
