The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, 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 operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
