The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level 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 role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired 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 intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book 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 background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
