The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
