The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 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. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments 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 among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
