The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
