The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book 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 background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
