The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired 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 stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing 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 sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
