The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response 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 school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators 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."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
