The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, 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, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
