The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
