The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
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 dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
