The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
