The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Although countless VPs were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, 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 remains unseen leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
