The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting 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 armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating 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: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
