The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
