The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background 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 companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
