The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that position in American history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
