The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired 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 stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, 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 nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
