The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
