The former 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 the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, 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 top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
