The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous VPs were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, 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 nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
