The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense 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 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot 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 ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
