The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, 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 background that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
