The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary 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 Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, 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 surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
