The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that office in American history. While many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons 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 terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views 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 saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
