The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize 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 voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
