The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
