The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist'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 corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
