The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
