Former Second-in-Command Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Government Service
The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
