The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
