The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept 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 quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
