The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use 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 rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
