The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of that office in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
