The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
