The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that office in US history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships 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 chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
