The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
