The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
