The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
