The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense 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. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, 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? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
