The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the individuals 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 enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
