The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that position in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions 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 visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
