The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
