The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication 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 background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
