The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet during that period, 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 role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
