The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation 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 Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure 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 the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
