The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
