The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
