The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention 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 attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
