The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
