The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
