The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While many VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
