The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that office in American history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group 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 answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers 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 journalist's 2013 volume 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 background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
