The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, 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 background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
