The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior 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 not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
