The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
