The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command 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 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
