The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
