The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level 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 role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
