The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
