The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that office in US history. While many VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, 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 lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
