The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge 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 additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
