The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
