The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that office in US history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty