The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
