The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
