The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, 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 participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, 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 corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
