The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
