The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept 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: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
