The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
