The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless VPs were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author'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 evil genius in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
