The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
