The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many VPs were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks 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 made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, 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 remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
