The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
