The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
