The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
