The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover 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 Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
