The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 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. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
