The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
