The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Although countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
