The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
