The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned 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 no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked 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 stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
