The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th 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. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
