The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
