The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings 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 on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured 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 terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who killed 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 praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
