The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
