The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion 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 taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion 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 reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
