The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior 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 not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief 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 Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
