The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
