The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high 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 position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
