The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired 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 plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute 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 defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
