The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
