The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated 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 little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot 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 ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes 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 deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication 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 background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
