The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, 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 emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
