The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
Yet 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 role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
