The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention 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 reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
