The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Although countless VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea 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 cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
