The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. While many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, 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 emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise 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 petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
