The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, 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 lair? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
