The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
