The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of that office in American history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
