The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
