The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense 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. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
