The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that office in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level 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 post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
