The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
