The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After 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 declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
