The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that position in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
