The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
