The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, 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, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
