The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. While countless VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling 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: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy 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 given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty