The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
Maya Chen is a seasoned tech journalist and software developer with over a decade of experience in digital innovation and cybersecurity.
