The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
