The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
