The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, 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 shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
