The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
