The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion 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 gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
