The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
