The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion 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 playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 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 praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. 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 most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
