The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed 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 intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 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 praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
