The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the individuals 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 deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
