The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
