The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that position in American history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level 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 saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
