The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
