The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
