The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, 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 lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
