The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
