The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
