The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly 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 top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
