The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication 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 corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
