The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired 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 objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
