The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high 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 witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in business but established relationships 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 top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
