The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book 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 nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
