The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
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 detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
