The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
