The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 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."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
