The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined 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 declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
