The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that position in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense 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. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
