The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
