The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, 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 position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, 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 corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
