The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
