The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume 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 corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
