The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture 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 merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication 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 operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
