The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
