The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that position in US history. While countless VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
