The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. While many VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given 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 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
