The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
