The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that office in American history. Although numerous VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion 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 participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions 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 dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 background that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
