The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although 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 largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
