The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated 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 attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
