The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author'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 leave his lair? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. 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 departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
