The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit 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 father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept 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 remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
