The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
