The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
