The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
