The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
