The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
