The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, 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: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, particularly 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 was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
