The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that office in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
