The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
