The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense 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 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution 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 position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
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 compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
