The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in American history. While many VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author'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 leave his domain? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
