The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
