The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior 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 position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to 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 author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
