The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
