The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty