The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated 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 taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
