The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that office in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks 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. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [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 never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
