The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured 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 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
