The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
