The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist'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 malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
