The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
