The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, 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 background that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
