The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
