The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of that position in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas 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 granted US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
