The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed 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 announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
