The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
