The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted 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 Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
