The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in American history. While many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
