The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling 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 observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head 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 Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
