The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However 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 region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data 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 procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
