The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
