The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
