The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
