The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering 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 conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
