The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous VPs were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
