The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of that position in American history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion 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 session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
