The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
