The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker'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 background that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
