The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous 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 connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book 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 corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
