The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
