The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
