The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
