The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators 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 deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
