The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of that office in US history. Although countless VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication 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 shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
