The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
