The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, 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, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
