The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling 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 the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing 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: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
