The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response 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 gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned 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 the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
