The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
