The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
