The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
