The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that office in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
