The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
