The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
