The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
