The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
