The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
