The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
