The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that office in American history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
