The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets 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 invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
