The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
