The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that position in American history. While numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch 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 recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
