The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
