The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove 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 plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
