The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend 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 deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience 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 corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
