The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that office in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
