The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
