The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that office in US history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
