The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
