The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge 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 objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
