The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty