The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication 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 nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
