The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
