The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, 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 ground design with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
