The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
