The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 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 recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
