The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level 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, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both weak or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators 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 praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, 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 reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
