The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top 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 totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
