The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
