The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
