The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication 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 remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
