The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
