The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
