The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief 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 Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 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 recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
