The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion 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 session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author'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 malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
