The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, 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 armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to 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 intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
