The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that position in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
