The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
