The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. While numerous VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book 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 background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
