The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of that position in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
