The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, 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 running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
