The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
