The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
