The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief 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 involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background 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 conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
