The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks 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 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
