The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
