The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
