The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action 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 estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
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 told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
