The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
