The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that position in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as 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, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
