The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Whereas many VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
