The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it 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 representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating 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 corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
