The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention 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 taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the individuals 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 took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
