The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author'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 nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
