The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Although many VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
