The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that position in American history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 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 credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
