The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
