The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
