The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of that office in US history. While many VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
