The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that position in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
