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. While countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
