The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals 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 decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet 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 retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating 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: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
