The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book 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 domain? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
