The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While numerous VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
