The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
