The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in American history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in 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 establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
