The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
