The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although many VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
