The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
