The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty