The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
