The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, 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, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
