The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Although many VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
