The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
