The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch 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 deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
