The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, 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 shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
