The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. Although numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, 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 floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on 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 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
