The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
