The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
