The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation 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.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
