The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
