The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction 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 educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker'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 evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
