The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
