The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that position in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier 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 observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
